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Prado feeling better, but return date unclear

Prado feeling better, but return date unclear

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052911 Martin Prado

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ATLANTA -- As Martin Prado strolled through the Braves' clubhouse Monday afternoon, it was apparent that he has lost some weight and strength since being diagnosed with a staph infection two weeks ago. But it's still not apparent when Atlanta might be able to put him back in the lineup.

"I'm a normal person now," Prado joked while indicating that he has regained his sense of humor.

This has been a rough couple of weeks for Prado, who has been sidelined since doctors found a staph infection on his right calf June 9. The infection developed after he had scraped his leg while sliding.

Prado said the cut on his leg measures approximately two inches, but is "not deep." The 27-year-old outfielder will not be permitted to resume baseball activities until the cut completely closes. But he has been cleared to begin focusing on regaining some of the upper body strength he lost when he was essentially confined to his bed the first few days after he was diagnosed with the infection.

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121 wins

"It's getting better every day," Braves general manager Frank Wren said. "But it's just a wait-and-see kind of thing. You just have wait for that thing to close up and heal before you can take it to that next step ... I don't know if there is any way to really predict how fast anybody is going to heal."

Prado has enjoyed the chance to at least come to the stadium the past few days to allow members of the Braves' medical staff to look at the cut and clean the area around it.

Given that he will likely need to play a couple of Minor League rehab games, there is a good chance Prado will at least miss the remainder of this month. He was hitting .277 with eight homers and a .761 OPS when he was placed on the disabled list.